Wednesday, July 22, 2009

I would say nothing except that it has John Abraham in it….. But that makes all the difference. Garnier for men ( a new extension from Garnier ) from International cosmetic giant L'Oreal has roped in Bollywood hunk John Abraham as the brand ambassador for its new product Garnier Men and the ads are going around catching the eye balls everywhere and everytime .( good media planning I must say)… Garnier MEN will "take care” of the tough male skin with a line of products that combine a high performance and unique formulae that fuse nature, science and technology.. ahem.. sounds great….

Why John?

Its simple..

The brand stands for “natural energy that fuels your skin”.

The brand want to be seen as “youthful and edgy” (in a positive sense I guess !), “that emanates positive energy”. It believes in “Taking Care – taking care of yourself and the world around”. John Abraham represents this value (and why not!) for Garnier. He’s got the charisma, and the attitude. He is the face of the new Indian man who is confident and has got tremendous self-belief. I know many young lads in my GYM where they come for working out just because their Girl friends LOVE JOHN…

Garnier is young and edgy, and John is an icon for the youth who is edgy as well. He wants the best for himself but he is also fun, someone who enjoys being himself, and same with the youth the GEN Y kids……. I feel a right connect and the celebrity-brand match looks perfect …

Where is this taking us?

A tremendous launch and then an expansion and surge in grooming products for men, happened in the last few years with the launch of brands such as Elder Pharmaceuticals’ Fair One Man, Saka Bleach Cream for Men, Emami’s Fair and Handsome, HUL’s Menz Activ, and Nivea for Men and the likes… (Have I left out anything…? ). Not that men didn’t care about looks before but largely had to depend on products aimed for the fairer sex…The Indian male grooming market now is growing faster than the global cosmetic market,and as per the industries estimate, the Indian male grooming market is around Rs 750 crore (without the shaving gels and brushes that is !)..,,,, The market is growing at a rate of 30-40 per cent annually and could keep growing at the rate and with increasing number of men wanting to look and feel good its just a non stop express. Now that is quite phenomenal for a category that didn’t exist some 10 years back.. aint it?

…Last to, jump into the male narcissism bandwagon is Garnier Men…. the market is tough, if not saturated and one will have to wait and see how far the new brand will capture the share of the voice and the noise and the market….If my knowledge is right, John is the first major celebrity and the first one to make a connect with its intended target audience and the brand. What more does a brand need? ( It is not that I did not see Bipasha basu and her miserable endorsement of Fa men, I prefer to ignore the ignorance of the agency and the apathy of the client and the perfect mismatch) . Now I am told that, Surya the Tamil actor and the King Khan SRK have endorsed male products well before John did, but the match factor still remains a question

Last but not the least: -

John is an icon for the Gen Y and the modern kids for sure,

…..and an icon to the metro sexual (fashionable guys who live in clean apartments, they have chiseled abs and thighs, they are mom loving, man scaping but not a gay himself, they are hair styled- cant live without gels, creams and the stuff and groomed to perfection and likes to be noted and admired by all ,including men )

……and an icon to gays as well.. (With the repelling of the controversial article 377 the LGBT movements will be more active and more faces will move out of the closet and for them john is the ultimate sex symbol) … Remember Dostana and the awe it created. Being a metro sexual himself, John loves the attention he gets, including from gays….

Simple and good !! Kudos to Garnier and Publicis India for the great marketing communication !!!

In a hospital, a gentleman had made several attempts to get into the men's restroom, but it had always been occupied. A nurse noticed his predicament.

Sir, she said "You may use the ladies room if you promise not to touch any of the buttons on the wall."

He did what he needed to, and as he sat there he noticed the buttons he had promised not to touch.

Each button was identified by letters: WW, WA, PP, and a red one labeled ATR.

Who would know if he touched them?

He couldn't resist.. He pushed WW. Warm water was sprayed gently upon his bottom.

What a nice feeling, he thought. Men restrooms don't have nice things like this. Anticipating greater pleasure, he pushed the WA button. Warm air replaced the warm water, gently drying his underside.

When this stopped, he pushed the PP button. A large powder puff caressed his bottom adding a fragile scent of spring flower to this unbelievable pleasure.. The ladies restroom was more than a restroom, it is tender loving pleasure.

When the powder puff completed its pleasure, he couldn't wait to push the ATR button which he knew would be supreme ecstasy.

Next thing he knew he opened his eyes, he was in a hospital bed, and a nurse was staring down at him.

"What happened?" he exclaimed. The last thing I remember was pushing the ATR button.

The nurse said softly ..."The button ATR is an Automatic Tampon Remover. Your penis is under your pillow."

6 comments:

Very good posting sir.. I believe that even if any other youth celebrity was there (say Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor or even recent fame M.S. Dhoni for that matter)in this ad instead of John Abraham; the ad anyway would have been the hit.The reason being the increasing awareness of 'GROOMING' among men in recent years. So the product has been launched keeping this fact in the mind.

1) John is much more macho and the hunky image that he has goes on that well with the TG's I mentioned and 2)John as a brand is not that diluted as others say Dhoni is there everywhere endorsing everything...

Thanks karthik,

I stand corrected and of course Surya is a celebrity as well !!Thanks for coming in !

First time here , nice blog sabu.Yeahh john added lot of energy and freshness to that add.I love A2 Z about (photography , concept which is simple and to the point) the ad......10 times better than "hi handsome types "